Can we separate the art from the person who made it? Not in the case of a monster like Rolf Harris

‘Those of us who had fleeting interactions with Rolf Harris are left to ponder the social and emotional prudence of meeting our idols,’ Paul Daley writes. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

I’m not convinced by the old adage that we should never meet our idols because they are bound to disappoint us. I’ve never wanted to approach human exceptionalism quite so cynically.

Yes, I’m acutely, painfully conscious that the world is replete with terrible events and bad people. But I’m counting myself fortunate that purely by dint of birth I live somewhere (and I don’t just mean my neighbourhood) where human capacity for kindness, generosity and, yes, civility, are not the exception.